Heated dental instrument table



M y 31, 1949- E. L. MONNOT 2,471,884

HEATED DENTAL INSTRUMENT TABLE Filed July 2, 1945 F7 2 28 I 3rwentor ,4 T l0 EdwardL/Vwmoi Gttorneg'a 2/ 4 BE I 3 37m (1/ Patented May 31, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HEATED DENTAL INSTRUMENT TABLE Edward L. Monnot. Canton, Ohio, assignor to The Weber Dental Manufacturing Company, Canton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application July 2, 1945, Serial No. 602,695

2 Claims. 1

The invention relates generally to instrument tables used by dentists for holding instruments and dental materials conveniently at hand while working on or treatin the teeth of a patient. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved rotatable instrument table which is maintained at a substantially uniform temperature sufficient to keep the instruments and materials thereon warmed to a desired temperature.

Prior dental instrument tables have been usually rotatably mounted on the bracket arm of a dental chair or unit, and include a circular top made of heavy glass, and having a scalloped rim for aiding in maintaining various instruments in readily accessible position on the table. Such a heavy glass table top is always relatively cold, especially in winter time and in northern climates, and to my knowledge, there has never been any satisfactory means of maintaining the table top warm enough to keep the instruments and materials thereon warm.

Accordingly, dental instruments, especially steel instruments, and other materials resting on the table, are always relatively cold, and this condition causes disadvantages, and in some cases, injurious results. For example, in using a cold steel instrument on the teeth, the thermal shock thereof causes discomfort and pain to the patient, and may endanger the life of the nerve of a tooth, especially if a condition of deep decay is present and the nerve is Weak, so that the instrument practically contacts the nerve itself.

In accordance with present practice, many materials used for fillings, such as alloys and mercury are, after mixing, laid on the instrument table until the dentist is ready to use such material. The result is that this material is cold when inserted in a tooth cavity, and results in a severe thermal shock to the patient.

Likewise, medicines used in the mouth and for sterilizing cavities are often placed on the instrument table until the dentist is ready to use them, and they are consequently cold and cause pain and discomfort to the patient when used.

Other materials, such as temporary stopping, inlay wax, and bite wax, require warming to various degrees before using, and when they have been cooled by resting on the cold instrument table, they require considerable time to become heated to the required temperature.

One of the most troublesome effects of the ordinary cold instrument table, is that dental mirrors, cold to start with, when kept on such attable will fog up quickly when placed in the mouth, due to'contact with the relatively warm breath of the patient, and such condition tends to make the dental operations more diificult and inaccurate because of imperfect vision.

I have discovered that by providing an improved means for electrically heating and maintaining the glass table top of a dental instrument table at a substantially uniform temperature of about F. to F., all of the above enumerated disadvantages can be overcome. However; it is necessary to provide for making the table top freely rotatable while maintaining an electrical connection between a source of electric current and electric heating elements in the table.

It is a eneral object of the present invention to provide an improved dental instrument tablev which overcomes all of the disadvantages of prior constructions.

Another object is to provide a rotatable dental instrument table having improved means for maintaining the table top at a desired uniform temperature.

Another object is to provide improved means for rotatably mounting the table top while permitting electrical connection with 'heatingelements therein.

Finally, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved heated rotatable dental. instrument table which accomplishes all of the foregoing objectives, and which is simple,..compact and designed to fill a long felt want.

These and other objects and advantages-apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description and claims may be obtained and the described difficulties overcome by the devices, elements, constructions, combinations and. arrangements which comprise the present invention, the nature of which is set forth in the following general statement, a preferred embodiment of which is set forth in the following description and shown in the accompanying drawing, and which is particularly and distinctly pointed out and set forth in the appended claims: forming part hereof.

The nature of the improvements in dental instrument table may be stated in general terms as including a steel pan of circular shape supported firmly on a bracket arm, an electric heating coil supported on the steel pan and insulated therefrom, a circular heavy glass table top rotatably mounted on the steel pan, and said heating coil bein arranged annularly of said table top and. pan for uniformly heating said table top,.-.and.

bein connected through the steel pan with a source of electric current in such a way that there: are no wiresto bend, break or become dislodged irrespective of the number of rotations of the table top, as required in dental office procedure.

By way of example, a preferred embodiment of the present improvements in dental instrument table is illustrated in the accompanying drawing formin part hereof wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan elevational View of the improved dental instrument table, with a portion of the glass table top broken away;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the table showing it mounted on a bracket arm of a dental chair or the like; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view similar to Fig. 2.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the various figures of the drawing.

The improved dental instrument table is shown in Figs. 2 and 3 mounted at its center on the bracket arm 4 of a dental chair or the like, and the table indicated generally at 5 has a depending tapered center pin 6 which is received in the tapered socket l on the bracket arm. In the ordinary dental instrument table in common usage, the socket 1 forms a journal for the center pin 6, so that the whole table 5 is rotatable thereon.

In the present invention, however, the center pin 6 is rigidly held in the socket l by means of a nut 8 which is screwed on the bottom reduced end of the pin 6, and clamps tightly against a washer 9 interposed between the nut and the bottom of the socket 'i. The steel pan iii forming the underside of the table 5 has a continuous upturned flange lila around its entire periphery, and the pan is rigidly secured at its center portion onto the pin 6, by means of a nut H which is screwed on the upper reduced end l2 oi the center pin, and clamps the bottom wall ii] of the pan between the nut and the washer l3 which rests on the shoulder Id of the center pin. Thus, the pan Hi is rigidly secured to the center pin 6 which is in turn rigidly secured in the socket i, so that the steel pan IE3 is non-rotatably mounted upon the outer end of the bracket arm.

The heavy glass circular table top !5 is supported on the steel pan id, is of usual construction, having a scalloped rim flange indicated at l6. These scallops are according to usual practice and serve to aid in keepin various instruments in place on the table by allowing the handle portions thereof to rest in the scallops.

The glass table top I5 has the usual annular ribs l1 and ill on its underside to facilitate manufacture of the glass table top, and the ribs Ill and I8 extend downwardly below the top of the rim flange ll of the steel pan.

Preferably, a circular metal plate I!) is adhesively secured to the undersurface of the glass table top l5 within the annular rib i8, and a centering pin 2!] is welded to and depends from the center of said plate. As best shown, in Fig. 3, the upper end of the pin 6 is counterbored at 2| to receive the lower end of the pin 20 with a loose fit, so that the table top may rotate with respect to the pan I 8 about the upwardly and downwardly extending usually vertical longitudinal axis of the pin as a center.

Means for rollably supporting the glass table top l5 on the steel pan ill, to allow rotation of the table top, preferably includes a plurality of rollers 22 arranged at intervals within the outer periphery of the pan it! and adapted to engage an annular shoulder 23 extending around the rim at the underside of the table top. The rollers 22 are suitably journalled by means of screws 24 on angular brackets 25, which are secured to the bottom wall of the pan by screws 26. Accordingly, the table top i5 is easily rotatable on the steel pan Ii! by means of the rollers 22, so that the pan may be non-rotatably supported on the bracket arm 4.

The means for maintaining the glass table top I5 at a required temperature sufiicient to warm materials and instruments resting thereon, preferably includes an electric heatin element in the form of a heating coil 21, which is preferably mounted on a thin steel plate 28 and located between the steel pan bottom wall ill and the table top I 5. The plate 28 is insulated from the bottom wall H] of the pan by means of an asbestos sheet 29, and the steel plate 28 may if desired be provided with downwardly directed indentations engaging the asbestos sheet 29 so as to provide an air space between the steel plate 28 and asbestos sheet 29 for additional insulation.

The heating coil 21 is of usual construction and may consist of metallic resistance heating elements in a refractory sheathing, and as shown in Fig. 1, the coil may be arranged in a double spiral shape, so that the two ends 353 of the coil may be connected by means of suitable couplings 3| to the line wires of a usual conductor cable 32 entering the pan Ii] through a centrally located hole 33 in the bottom wall of the pan iii.

The heating coil 2'! is preferably arranged annularly of the glass top l5, and the heat capacity of the coil, the radial location thereof and the number of its convolutions are calculated to supply and uniformly distribute heat to the table top l5 in such manner that the glass table top I5 will be maintained at a temperature of about F. to F. I have determined that such temperature is suiiicient to maintain dental instruments and materials resting on the table warm enough to obviate pain and discomfort to a patient resulting from the thermal shock of relatively cold instruments, filling materials and medicines contacting the teeth or gums.

Moreover, wax materials which require warming before using are, if kept on the improved instrument table, almost ready for immediate use and require little additional heating. Also dental mirrors kept on the improved table do not become foggy to any extent when placed in a potient's mouth, thereby promoting greater speed and ac-- curacy in dental treatment.

The improved table is easily rotable without wrapping or tangling of the electric cord supplying current to the heating coil, and the heating coil is arranged to heat the entire table top substantially uniformly.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a new and improved dental instrument table which overcomes all of the disadvantages of prior tables used for the same purpose, and which is simple, compact and inexpensive to manufacture.

The embodiments of the improved construction illustrated and described are by way of example, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to the exact details of construction of the various parts.

I claim:

1. In combination with a bracket arm, a center pin clamped in said bracket arm and having a counterbore, a steel pan fixedly secured at its center portion to said bracket center pin, a table top located above said pan and having a depending centering pin fittin rotatably in said bracket center pin counterbore, rollers mounted in the steel pan for rollably supporting said table top for rotary movement on said pan, an annularly arranged electric heating coil located between said pan and said table top, and means insulating said heating coil from said pan.

2. In a dental instrument table, an under pan, means fixedly and non-rotatably mounting the under pan, the under pan including a contiuous upturned flange extending etirely around an upwardly and downwardly extending axis, a table top, means mounting the table top on the pan for rotation about the axis, and electric heating means located between the pan and the table top, the pan having a depending center pin having a longitudinal axis coinciding with the axis of rotation of the table top, and the center pin being included in the mounting means for the pan, and means interposed between the table top and the center pin for preventing displacement of the 0 axis of rotation of the table top from the axis of the center pin.

EDWARD L. MONNOT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 602,103 Place Apr. 12, 1898 957,824 Wade May 10, 1910 1,167,750 Hadaway Jan. 11, 1916 1,731,949 Span et al. Oct. 15, 1929 2,179,934 Jones Nov. 14, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 10,611 Great Britain 1905 

